American Tunnicliffe wins Laser Radial sail Olympic gold

August 19, 2008 12:09:37 PM PDT

QINGDAO, China --

American Anna Tunnicliffe has won the Olympic gold medal in Laser Radial sailing after coming from behind in the final medal race to finish second and secure the top spot on overall points. Gintare Volungeviciute took silver on Tuesday for Lithuania's first sailing medal in an Olympics, while China's Xu Lijia took bronze.

British-born Tunnicliffe was ahead on overall points going into the final medal race, but the American needed a solid place to secure the top spot.

The 25-year-old was down as far as ninth out of 10 boats that qualified for Tuesday's final. Tunnicliffe says she spotted a wind shift on the third leg, fought her way up to third, and finished 11 seconds behind Volungeviciute to take the gold on total points after 10 races.